Colony Collapse Disorder | Protecting Bees and Other Pollinators from Pesticides | US EPA For More Information Discovering a Problem During the winter of 2006-2007, some beekeepers began to report unusually high losses of 30-90 percent of their hives. As many as 50 percent of all affected colonies demonstrated symptoms inconsistent with any known causes of honey bee death: Sudden loss of a colony’s worker bee population with very few dead bees found near the colony. The queen and brood (young) remained, and the colonies had relatively abundant honey and pollen reserves. But hives cannot sustain themselves without worker bees and would eventually die. This combination of events resulting in the loss of a bee colony has been called Colony Colapse Disorder. Though agricultural records from more than a century ago note occasional bee “disappearances” and “dwindling” colonies in some years, it is uncertain whether the colonies had the same combination of factors associated with CCD. What we do know from the data from beekeepers for 2014/2015 is that, while colony loss from CCD has declined, colony loss is still a concern.

Top of Page Dead Bees don’t Necessarily Mean CCD Certain pesticides are harmful to bees. That’s why we require instructions for protecting bees on the labels of pesticides that are known to be particularly harmful to bees. This is one of many reasons why everyone must read and follow pesticide label instructions. When most or all of the bees in a hive are killed by overexposure to a pesticide, we call that a beekill incident resulting from acute pesticide poisoning. But acute pesticide poisoning of a hive is very different from CCD and is almost always avoidable. There have been several incidents of acute poisoning of honey bees covered in the popular media in recent years, but sometimes these incidents are mistakenly associated with CCD. A common element of acute pesticide poisoning of bees is, literally, a pile of dead bees outside the hive entrance. With CCD, there are very few if any dead bees near the hive. Piles of dead bees are an indication that the incident is not colony collapse disorder. Indeed, heavily diseased colonies can also exhibit large numbers of dead bees near the hive.

Why It's Happening There have been many theories about the cause of CCD, but the researchers who are leading the effort to find out why are now focused on these factors: Increased losses due to the invasive varroa mite (a pest of honey bees). New or emerging diseases such as Israeli Acute Paralysis virus and the gut parasite Nosema. Pesticide poisoning through exposure to pesticides applied to crops or for in-hive insect or mite control. Stress bees experience due to management practices such as transportation to multiple locations across the country for providing pollination services. Changes to the habitat where bees forage. Inadequate forage/poor nutrition. Top of Page What is Being Done The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is leading the federal government response to CCD. In 2007, USDA established a CCD Steering Committee with representatives from other government agencies, and academia. EPA is an active participant in the CCD Steering Committee. The Steering Committee has developed the Colony Collapse Disorder Action Plan (PDF) (28 pp, 2 MB, About PDF ). The plan has four main components: Survey/Data Collection to determine the extent of CCD and the current status of honey bee colony production and health.

Analysis of Bee Samples to determine the prevalence of various pests and pathogens, bee immunity and stress, and exposure to pesticides. Hypothesis-Driven Research on four candidate factors including: new and reemerging pathogens, environmental and nutritional stresses, and pesticides. Mitigative/Preventive Measures to improve bee health and habitat and to counter mortality factors. In October 2013, the CCD Steering Committee hosted the national stakeholder conference on honey bee health. The conference brought together a broad group of stakeholders to examine the federal governement's course of action to understand colony collapse disorder and honey bee health. Based on input from the stakeholders at this conference, the CCD steering committee is drafting a revised CCD and honey bee health action plan. Top of Page What EPA is Doing Our role in the federal response to CCD is to keep abreast of and help advance research investigating pesticide effects on pollinators. While our longstanding regulatory requirements for pesticides are designed to protect beneficial insects such as bees, since 2007 we have been looking at many different ways of possibly improving pollinator protection. The Agency's efforts are now focused on EPA's role in the National Pollinator Health Strategy .

The Buzz About Colony Collapse Disorder | NRDC Our Stories › Personal Action The Buzz About Colony Collapse Disorder Bees keep dying at record rates, putting our food supply at serious risk. Here’s how you can help take the sting out. December 31, 2015 Alexandra Zissu The average person sitting down to dinner probably doesn’t realize the important role bees played in preparing that meal. Here’s something that might surprise you: One out of every three mouthfuls of food in the American diet is, in some way, a product of honeybee pollination—from fruit to nuts to coffee beans. And because bees are dying at a rapid rate (42 percent of bee colonies collapsed in the United States alone in 2015), our food supply is at serious risk . The bee’s plight is widespread: Serious declines have been reported in both managed honeybee colonies and wild populations. Jennifer Sass , an NRDC senior scientist, says there are multiple factors at play. Each on its own is bad enough, but combined they are quickly proving too much to handle. Pesticides: These chemicals are designed, of course, to kill insects. But some systemic varieties—specifically neonicotinoids—are worse for bees than others.

: Loss of habitat: As rural areas become urban, the patches of green space that remain are often stripped of all weeds and their flowers, which bees rely on for food. Climate change: Unusually warm winters have caused plants to shift their schedules. When bees come out of hibernation, the flowers they need to feed on have already bloomed and died. Disease: Pathogens carried by mites weaken bees, which makes them more susceptible to pesticide poisoning. On the flip side, if bees are already weakened by pesticides, they’re more vulnerable to disease. It’s hard to imagine a world without bees, but we know the impacts on our food supply would be significant. (Think way less varied and much more expensive.) Industry is scrambling to manage the crisis, with Big Agriculture securing healthy honeybee hives from wherever it can find them and transporting them around the country to pollinate crops. Some regions in China are even hand-pollinating. The rest of us can help, too. “The thing we can most control is pesticides,” says Sass. Anyone with outdoor space—from a container garden to a large lawn—can create a pesticide-free, safe space for pollinators that will encourage native bees and other beneficial insects.

We can also make sure to purchase plants that aren’t pretreated with pesticides by asking questions when we shop for seeds and flowers. We can let our lawns grow a bit longer and leave the blooming clover for bees to enjoy. We can ask our elected officials to pass county and town ordinances to reduce pesticide spraying, and we can urge corporations to stop making and selling neonicotinoids. It’s time to pay back the tiny, struggling pollinators that do so much for us, especially at mealtime. Why Are Bees Dying Off? | Bee Colony Collapse Disorder Visit the Mercola Video Library By Dr. Mercola For several years now, scientists have been struggling to determine why bee colonies across the world are disappearing—a phenomenon dubbed colony collapse disorder (CCD). As reported by Dan Rather, the US has recently experienced the highest loss of honeybee populations so far, with most of the nation’s beekeepers losing anywhere from 50 to 90 percent of their bee population. Honeybees are perhaps one of the least recognized workers in the agricultural industry. They contribute $15 billion in annual agriculture revenue to the US economy alone, as a full one-third of the American food supply depends on them pollinating crops.

Just about every fruit and vegetable you can imagine is dependent on the pollinating services of bees. Apple orchards, for instance, require one colony of bees per acre in order to be adequately pollinated. So, unless the mysterious disappearance of bees is reversed, major food shortages could result. California Almond Orchards Threatened by Bee Loss As discussed in Dan Rather’s report, 80 percent of the world’s almonds come from California’s central valley, an 800,000 acre area of almond orchards that are 100 percent dependent on bees pollinating the trees. Surprisingly, almonds are the number one agricultural product in California. Once a year, in late winter, 1.5 million bee hives from around the country are delivered to these orchards where the bees’ pollination efforts take place over the course of just a few days. It’s the largest mass-pollination effort in the world. This year, however, the unthinkable happened. Many of the 6,000 orchard owners simply could not find enough bees to pollinate their almond trees, at any price... One of the beekeepers featured in Rather’s report is John Miller, President of the California state Beekepers Association.

His family has tended bees since 1894. Of the 11,000 hives brought to California by Miller, hundreds of hives turned out to be dead when opened up. According to Miller, “the past 30 years have been tumultuous with 40 percent of the national herd dying or dead.” Another fourth generation beekeeper named Anderson lost 70 percent of his hives this year. Yet another outfit lost 100 percent of his bees... Fortunately, unsurpassed efforts that included persuading beekeepers as far away as Florida to ship their bees cross country, delayed bloom, and unseasonably good weather thereafter allowed almond growers to dodge the bullet—this year—despite having fewer and weaker-than-ever hives... This narrowly-achieved success may lead some to reach the mistaken conclusion that beekeepers’ concerns are overblown. Don’t be fooled. One beekeeper goes so far as to say he believes the beekeeper industry is doomed and cannot survive for more than another two to three years unless drastic changes are implemented... What’s Causing Bees to Die?

Proposed culprits of bee colony collapse disorder include: Pesticides and insecticides—Nicotinoids such as Imidacloprid and Clothianidin kills insects by attacking their nervous systems. These are known to get into pollen and nectar, and can damage beneficial insects such as bees. Malnutrition/Nutritional deficiencies—Many beekeepers place the hives near fields of identical crops, which may result in malnutrition as the bees are only getting one type of nectar. Essentially, this theory is identical to that of human nutrition; we need a wide variety of nutrients from different foods. If you keep eating the same limited range of foods, you can easily end up suffering from nutritional deficiencies. Poor nutrition suppresses immune function, making the bees far more susceptible to toxins from pesticides, viruses, fungi, or a combination of factors that ultimately kill them. Viruses and fungi—There's even the possibility that some new form of "AIDS-like" viral infection is affecting the bees.

Electromagnetic fields (EMFs)—Researchers have discovered that when a cellular phone is placed near a hive, the radiation generated by it (900-1,800 MHz) is enough to prevent bees from returning to them, according to a study conducted at Landau University several years ago. 1 This result was duplicated in 2009 by Sainuddeen Pattazhy , a researcher and dean in the department of zoology at SN College, Punalur, Kerala. His experiments showed that microwaves from mobile phones appear to interfere with worker bees' navigation skills. When cell phones were placed near beehives, the hives collapsed completely in five to 10 days. The worker bees simply failed to return home. More recently, a study 2 published in 2011 found that the presence of microwaves from cell phones have a dramatic effect on bees, causing them to become quite disturbed. Lack of natural foraging areas—Mass conversions of grasslands to corn and soy in the Midwest has dramatically reduced bees’ natural foraging areas EPA Blamed for Failure to Protect Bees A general consensus among beekeepers is that the bee die-offs are most definitely related to toxic chemicals.

Increasingly, a systemic type of pesticide called neonicotinoids is being blamed for bee die-off’s. Neonicotinoids are now used on most of American crops, especially corn. This newer class of chemicals is applied to seeds before planting, allowing the pesticide to be taken up through the plant’s vascular system as it grows. As a result, the chemical is expressed in the pollen and nectar of the plant. These insecticides are highly toxic to bees because they are systemic, water-soluble, and pervasive. They get into the soil and groundwater where they can accumulate and remain for many years and present long-term toxicity to the hive. Neonicotinoids affect insects' central nervous systems in ways that are cumulative and irreversible. Even minute amounts can have profound effects over time. One of the observed effects of these insecticides is weakening of the bee's immune system. Forager bees bring pesticide-laden pollen back to the hive, where it's consumed by all of the bees. Six months later, their immune systems fail, and they fall prey to secondary, seemingly "natural" bee infections, such as parasites, mites, viruses, fungi and bacteria.

The disappearance of bee colonies began accelerating in the United States shortly after the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) allowed these new insecticides on the market in the mid-2000s. Last month, beekeepers and environmental groups filed a lawsuit against the agency over its failure to protect bees from these toxic pesticides. Meanwhile, France has banned Imidacloprid for use on corn and sunflowers after reporting large losses of bees after exposure to it. They also rejected Bayer´s application for Clothianidin, and other countries, such as Italy, have banned certain neonicotinoids as well. The EPA 3 acknowledges that “pesticide poisoning” may be one factor leading to colony collapse disorder, yet they have been slow to act to protect bees from this threat. The current lawsuit may help spur them toward more urgent action, which is desperately needed as the food supply hangs in the balance. In March, according to Dan Rather’s report, the EPA sent Jim Jones, overseer of the Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, to talk to California almond growers and beekeepers.

But although beekeepers said Jones got the message that bees are in serious trouble, they were dismayed by the fact that he seemed more interested in finding new places for bees to forage rather than addressing the issue of toxic pesticides... As usual, at the core of the problem is big industry, which is blinded by greed and enabled by a corrupt governmental system that permits the profit-driven sacrifice of our environment. Unfortunately, this motivation reflects an extreme shortsightedness about the long-term survival of the human race, as well as of our planet. Clearly, if the goal of pesticides is to increase food yield to more easily feed 7 billion human beings, this goal falls flat on its face if it leads to the collapse of our food chain. Do You Trust Monsanto to Solve the Bee Colony Collapse Problem? Another forerunning theory of colony collapse disorder (CCD) is that it's being caused by genetically engineered crops—either as a result of the crops themselves or the pesticides and herbicides applied on them, such as Roundup.

In one German study, 4 when bees were released in a genetically engineered rapeseed crop, then fed the pollen to younger bees, scientists discovered the bacteria in the guts of the young ones mirrored the same genetic traits as ones found in the GE crop, indicating that horizontal gene transfer had occurred. Chemical companies like Monsanto are clearly seeking to take as much control of the food supply as possible by controlling virtually every aspect of crop production, so research implicating their business as the cause of bee die-offs would definitely cause harm to the company's bottom line. Monsanto has received increasing amounts of bad publicity over their potential role in the devastating demise of bees around the globe. To better field such lines of inquiry, the company appears to have taken measures to control the direction of the research into their products' effect on bees by purchasing one of the leading bee research firms – one that, conveniently, lists its primary goal as studying colony collapse disorder.

Monsanto bought the company, called Beeologics , in September 2011, just months before Poland announced it would ban growing of Monsanto's genetically modified MON810 maize, noting, poignantly, that "pollen of this strain could have a harmful effect on bees.” 5 Rodale Institute Tackles Bee Problem I recently visited the Rodale Institute and got a tour of their brand new Honeybee Conservancy and research facility. As reported on their website: 6 “The 2013 Conservancy has a new physical arrangement and a whole new set of beds that include nectar plants that bloom throughout the season and incorporate biodynamic principles... We’ll be looking at the impacts of compost, compost extracts and biodynamic preparations on the health and vitality of the plants.” How You Can Help Protect the Bees If you would like to learn more about the economic, political and ecological implications of the worldwide disappearance of the honeybee, check out the documentary film Vanishing of the Bees . If you’d like to get involved, here are four actions you can take to help preserve and protect our honeybees: Support organic farmers and shop at local farmer's markets as often as possible.

You can "vote with your fork" three times a day. (When you buy organic, you are making a statement by saying "no" to GMOs and toxic pesticides.) Cut the use of toxic chemicals in your house and on your lawn, and use only organic, all-natural forms of pest control. Better yet, get rid of your lawn altogether and plant a garden or other natural habitat. Lawns offer very little benefit for the environment. Both flower and vegetable gardens provide excellent natural honeybee habitats. Become an amateur beekeeper. Having a hive in your garden requires only about an hour of your time per week, benefits your local ecosystem, and you can enjoy your own honey! Worldofbeekeping.com , 7 and beekeeping.org 8 are but two websites that can help you get started. If you are interested in more information about bee preservation, the following organizations are a good place to start. Pesticide Action Network Bee Campaign 9 The Foundation for the Preservation of Honey Bees 10 American Beekeeping Federation 11 GMOs Are Killing the Bees, Butterflies, Birds and . . . ? GMOs Are Killing the Bees, Butterflies, Birds and . . . ?

GMOs Are Killing the Bees, Butterflies, Birds and . . . ? February 14, 2014 Birds and Bees and "It is ironic to think that man might determine his own future by something so seemingly trivial as the choice of an insect spray." - Rachel Carson, Silent Spring When the honeybees, our most important food pollinators, started dropping like proverbial flies, scientists scrambled to identify their killer (or killers). Attention eventually turned to the increased use of a class of pesticides known as neonicotinoids. Scientists now believe at least some of these pesticides play a major role in Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), the ongoing demise of honeybee colonies. Who makes the neonicotinoids? Syngenta, Bayer CropSciences and Dow Agrosciences. Who's using them, and for what purpose? Companies like Monsanto, Bayer, Dow Agrosciences . . . in the herbicides and pesticides and seeds they sell to farmers who grow genetically engineered crops. Crops that eventually end up in our food, or in the feed used to fatten up animals in factory farms-animals we slaughter for food.

We need bees in order to grow food, or at least some of it. Yet the food-GMO food, drenched in neonics-we are growing is killing the bees. It's not just the bees that are dying. Butterfly and bird populations are in decline, too. And it's not just the neonicotinoids that are to blame. Other herbicides and pesticides, especially Monsanto's Roundup, used to grow GMO crops-and also used to contain (kill) weeds in cities and home gardens -are decimating pollinators, fish and wildlife, and some would argue, humans, too. As consumers ask more and more questions about the impact of GMO foods and crops on our health and environment, we're making smarter choices about the foods we choose to eat. Does my child's cereal contain sugar from genetically engineered beets? Did that steak on my dinner plate come from an animal raised on a factory farm, and fed a diet of Roundup-ready GMO corn, canola, soy or cotton seed? But we need to look at the bigger picture, too. That means calling for an end to the use of Monsanto's Roundup in urban areas, on our lawns, roadways, schoolyards and parks.

It means paying close attention to the seeds and garden plants we buy for our home gardens. It means asking ourselves what can we do to pressure Monsanto, Dow, Syngenta, and Dupont's customers, both rural and urban, into understanding that their widespread, reckless use of neonics and other toxins is destroying our food, soil, water, air and wildlife? And that organic, sustainable, non-chemical alternatives exist? It means asking ourselves, how do we force food manufacturers to stop using these poison-drenched GMO crops in their processed food products? How do we get through to the politicians who protect the interests (profits) of pesticide and junk food makers, at the expense of all else? Before it's too late? We do it by making intelligent and ethical buying decisions. By boycotting the corporations who refuse to hear us. But voting out the politicians who sell us out to the industry lobbyists who fund their political campaigns. We do it by all of the above. Over and over again. Bee Week of Action just the bee-ginning February 16 marks the end of a national Bee Week of Action .

This week, more than 27,000 activists, coast to coast, delivered valentine cards to managers of Home Depot and Lowe's stores, and handed out bee education leaflets to store customers. The actions, organized by Friends of the Earth, the Organic Consumers Association and 10 other groups, focused on pressing Home Depot and Lowe's to stop selling garden plants pre-treated with neonicotinoids. OCA and our allies also collected more than 650,000 signatures on petitions to Home Depot and Lowe's, and sent letters to the CEOs of both companies. Home Depot responded this week, saying that it is "working on" a policy to address neonics. We're hopeful, that with enough pressure, Home Depot and Lowe's will take these killers off their shelves and promote organic alternatives. Our goal this week was to draw attention to the plight of honeybees, the damage caused by neonics, and the fact that consumers-most of them unknowingly-contribute to the problem when they purchase plants that may attract bees, only to kill them. It's a strong campaign. One that OCA is committed to supporting until Home Depot and Lowe's end the sales of bee-killing plants.

But the problem is bigger than bees. The use of neonics isn't limited to garden plants. Neonics aren't the only toxins killing bees. And bees aren't the only victims of agribusiness's chemical assault on the environment. As the bees go, so goes our food When the honeybees started dying en masse, the alarm bells went off. Bees are critical to food production. According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), more than a quarter of America's diet relies on pollination by honeybees. No bees, no food. Or at least, no apples, cherries, onions, celery, cabbage, and a long list of others, including almonds and blueberries which, according to the American Beekeeping Federation, are 90-percent dependent on bees for pollination. Estimates are that nearly a third of the honeybee population has been wiped out since 2006. Once scientists pinpointed neonics as the likely suspect, more studies were launched. Under pressure, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) agreed to study the link between at least three types of neonics and the mass die-off of bees.

Despite the fact that their counterpart in the EU took the precautionary step of requiring companies to suspend the use of neonics for at least the next two years, until further studies could be done, the best the U.S. EPA could come up with was a requirement that certain neonics carry warning labels . As if Monsanto and Bayer and Dow are going to read those labels and stop selling, and spraying, neonics. Neonics, more powerful than DDT Science writer George Monbiot says neonicotinoids are the "new DDT killing the natural world," 10,000 times more powerful than DDT. In an article published in The Guardian, Monbiot skillfully explains how neonics, when applied to the seeds of crops, remain in the plant as it grows, killing the insects that eat the plant. ( According to Pesticide Action Network of North America, the seeds for at least 94 percent of the 92 million acres of corn planted across the U.S. are treated with neonics).

Other pollinators, including bees, hoverflies, butterflies, moths, and beetles that feed from the flowers of the treated crops, absorb enough of the pesticide to compromise their survival, says Monbiot. But more disturbing? Monbiot points to studies proving that only a small percentage of the pesticide used to coat a seed before it's planted is absorbed by the plant. Some of it blows off into surrounding habitats. But more than 90 percent enters the soil, where it can remain for up to 19 years, causing who knows what damage. "This is the story you'll keep hearing about these pesticides: we have gone into it blind," says Monbiot. "Our governments have approved their use without the faintest idea of what the consequences are likely to be." Rounding up the other suspects, identifying the victims Neonics are in the spotlight when it comes to bees, but scientists warn that other chemicals could be responsible, too, including those used widely in the production of GMO crops. For instance, there's Dow's 2,4-D, closely associated with the infamous Agent Orange defoliant used in Vietnam. Besides being linked to cancer and birth defects in humans, 2,4-D is also toxic to honeybees.

While the herbicide may not result in the immediate die-off of bees, scientists report that over time, it severely impairs their ability to reproduce. And yet, the USDA is on the verge of greenlighting Dow's two new 2,-4-D-resistant crops (corn and soy). If the USDA follows through, experts predict we'll see anywhere from a 25 - 50-fold increase in the use of this highly toxic chemical. Perhaps the most widely used, and most well-known weed-killer in the world is Monsanto's Roundup. It's sprayed on home gardens and on roadsides. But by far, the single most use for Roundup is on Monsanto's "Roundup-Ready" corn, soybeans, sugar beets, canola and cotton. Roundup is routinely used along with neonics, which implicates it in CCD. But its key active ingredient, one linked by numerous studies to widespread human and environmental health problems, is glyphosate . According to the latest figures available from the EPA, in 2007, as much as 185 million pounds of glyphosate was used by U.S. farmers, double the amount used six years prior.

Since 2007, more GMO crops have been approved, more acres of GMO crops have been planted. Glyphosate, too, has been linked to the die-off of bees. But it's also the prime suspect in the dramatically declining population of the monarch butterfly. Roundup kills the milkweed plant, the main source of food for monarch butterflies. According to one leading entomologist, the "main culprit" in the declining population of monarch butterflies is "herbicide-resistant corn and soybean crops and herbicides in the USA" which "leads to the wholesale killing of the monarch's principal food plant, common milkweed." For whom the bee tolls The Monarch butterfly isn't yet on the verge of extinction, and unlike the honeybee, it isn't critical to our food supply. But does that mean we can, or should, dismiss the impact GMO crops has on its ability to thrive? We asked Karen Oberhauser, Ph.D, a professor at the University of Minneapolis and director of the school's Monarch Butterfly Lab. She said that Monarch's don't, to our knowledge, play a key role in any ecosystem, unless you count the fact that they provide food for a lot of birds.

But, she wrote in an email to OCA: "I would argue that there are both ethical and more selfish reasons that monarchs deserve our protection. From an ethical perspective, just because we have the ability to so alter ecosystems that we can cause the extinction of species doesn't mean that it is ethical for us to do so. Thus, preserving monarchs is the "right" thing to do. From a selfish perspective, we can learn a great deal about migration, species interactions, insect population dynamics, and insect reproduction by studying monarchs. Monarchs thus have a great deal to teach us about how the natural world works, and I would argue that understanding the natural world will benefit us." When in 1962, Rachel Carson published Silent Spring, her seminal work on the impact of chemicals on our environment, she probably didn't imagine a world in which millions of tons of evermore powerful chemicals are used not just to eliminate unwanted weeds and insects, but to grow the majority of the corn, soy, beets and other crops that are found in more than 80 percent of our processed foods, and are fed to an equally high percentage of the animals that eventually enter the human food supply. But here we are.

Will we change course, and reverse the damage? Will we save the bees, birds, butterflies-and ourselves-by driving GMOs, neonics and Roundup off the market? And by making the Great Transition to organic agriculture and gardening, before it's too late? Or will we maintain the status quo, on the outside chance that we humans will be somehow impervious to the decaying state of our surrounding environment? Katherine Paul is associate director of the Organic Consumers Association. Ronnie Cummins is national and international director of the Organic Consumers Association. SUBSCRIBE for drupal Colony Collapse Disorder Archives - Insects in the City Insects in the City The best in science-based, pest management solutions from Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service Search for: by mike.merchant Lobbying efforts by “defenders of the bees” have been rewarded by one of the largest retailers of nursery plants requiring new tags on plants. As reported today by Nursery Management magazine, all Home Depot plants treated by greenhouse or nursery producers with one of the neonicotinoid insecticides will have to carry a special tag informing customers of the treatment and potential residues. What’s this about?

It’s all part of a political and scientific brouhaha over a group of insecticides that were recently discovered to have some subtle, and possibly deadly,… Read More → How Colony Collapse Disorder Works | HowStuffWorks How Colony Collapse Disorder Works © iStockphoto /Todor Marholev There are m­any products in modern life that can be difficult to trace back to their roots. Take the food you ate for supper last night. Have you ever considered the long journey your food made to get to your kitchen table? Depending on exactly what you ate, it's likely that a fair portion of your food relied on bees -- specifically commercial honeybees -- at the critical early stages of its development. The little busybodies have been made even busier the past several decades as farming has evolved from small family businesses to large, concentrated single-crop farming operations that require pollination management. When there aren't enough existing bees in the area to handle the job (often because of habitat loss and pesticides), beekeepers are paid to bring their bees to help pollinate a crop. Busy as a Bee Insect Quiz Beekeeping is big business -- take the almond pollination season for example.

Migrating beekeepers descend on the vast California almond orchards every February, bringing with them more than 1 million hives (also called colonies) packed with about 40 billion honeybees. During the next few weeks, the bees pollinate 80 percent of the world's almond crop, worth about $1 billion in exports [source: Agnew ]. Many other crops, like avocados , apples, cherries and melons, depend on the work of bees too. In the U.S., an estimated $15 billion worth of crops are pollinated by commercial honeybees each year [source: USDA ]. And the bees' impact on your diet isn't limited to the actual food you eat, like those delicious almonds for example. Almond hulls are sold as cattle feed and the crushed shells as bedding for livestock, while the almond dust is collected as an additive to topsoil. So, even if you ate a hamburger for dinner last night and skimped on the fruits and veggies , your meal still might have had the help of a few bees. But something dramatic is happening in the beekeeping world. Beehives have always been tricky to keep healthy and active because of issues maintaining proper nutrition and health.

But now, the issue of healthy beehives has now reached new heights as Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) affects an increasing number of hives. Bees by the billions are heading out for a busy day of gathering nectar and spreading pollen, but mysteriously aren't returning to the hive. So why are bees flying the coop and where are they going? Let's dig a little deeper into the scope of CCD on the next page. 1 What's the Buzz on Bees? - Fairfax County, Virginia What's the Buzz on Bees? by Jim McGlone, VA Department of Forestry and Deana Crumbling, US EPA In 2006, the rapid disintegration of honeybee colonies across the United States made Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD) a mainstream topic. Congressional hearings early the next year raised the alarm about the future of U.S. agriculture. Colony Collapse Disorder, Congress and the media announced, could herald the end of agriculture as we know it! Were such announcements hyperbole? The 17th century colonists brought the honeybee from Europe when they settled North America.

The squash, tomatoes, peppers, beans, and peanuts we still see at the grocer are all pollinator-dependent crops that were domesticated in the Americas. These crops flourished and fed Native Americans before the European honeybee arrived. So who exactly pollinated the three sisters of beans, squash and corn before the arrival of the European honeybee? Native bees, that’s who. More than 3500 species of solitary native bees live in North America. Although our native bees evolved to pollinate North American forest and meadow plants, plants like hawthorns, serviceberries, and mountain ash, they happily (and compared to honeybees, more efficiently) pollinate these trees’ Asian cousins – apple, plum, cherry, pear, and peach, as well as other crops. In fact, several studies have shown that native pollinators can be major contributors to the pollination of most of our native and non-native crop plants. If we have native bees and other pollinators ready to take over from the European honeybee, what’s the problem? Honeybees are colonial insects whose hives center on the queen and whose workers return to the hive every evening. Because of this, hives can be moved.

Agriculture “as we know it” usually involves large scale plantings of the same plant or monocultures, so fields come into flower all at once. When the plants bloom and are ready for pollination, the beekeepers bring in their hives. After pollination, the bees are moved to the next field or crop. Honeybees can be moved to where the flowers are when they are needed. Most of our native bees are solitary insects that cannot be moved in large numbers. While these bees will visit crops, when the crops are not in flower they have to have other nearby nectar and pollen sources. Unfortunately, as agriculture has evolved its dependence on mobile honeybees, it has also become better at eliminating ‘weeds.’ As the weeds have declined, so have our native bee populations. Colony Collapse Disorder is alarming, not because we don’t have good substitutes for honeybees; we do and most are better pollinators than honeybees. The problem is that at the same time honeybees are in peril, so are our native bees. The cause of CCD has been elusive and now seems to be a combination of stressors that include parasites, viruses, pesticides and possibly nutritional deficiencies from lack of dietary variety.

These same stressors, particularly the widespread use of pesticides, are affecting our native bee populations. Native bees, like most wildlife, are also threatened by loss of habitat. The decline of native pollinators is not just a threat to our agricultural crops; it is a threat to our natural ecosystems as well. Not only are our native plants, including the berries, nuts and other fruits of pollination they produce, important parts of the natural food web, but so are the pollinators themselves. While butterflies help produce berries that feed many adult birds, their caterpillars are a significant food for nestlings. To protect our food supply and our natural resources, it makes sense to foster our native pollinators. What can you do? Support smaller-scale agriculture. Pollinator populations are doing better in areas where small farms are producing a variety of crops and are maintaining fence and hedgerows. This provides a variety of sources of pollen and nectar for solitary bees throughout the growing season. Plan your own garden to have something in bloom all season. Start with early spring bluebells and run through late spring coneflowers, mid-summer milkweeds and end with fall blooming asters and goldenrod.

Contrary to common belief, plants pollinated by insects including goldenrod do not broadcast pollen or cause hay fever. Provide food sources for larval pollinators including the native host plants caterpillars prefer, and tolerate caterpillars eating your plant leaves. Provide other habitat resources. Small bare soil patches free of grass and mulch providing nesting areas for ground nesting bees and ‘puddling’ spots for butterflies. Reduce your pesticide use and avoid monocultures. While dandelions, clover and other flowering ‘weeds’ are considered unsightly in lawns, they are a food source for pollinators. Do not be afraid to attract native bees to your yard. Except for bumblebees, their stingers cannot penetrate human skin; and bumblebees are very peaceful and do not sting unless directly threatened. The Xerces Society and the North American Pollinator Protection Campaign and The Pollinator Partnership are excellent places to find out more about pollinators and how you can help.

Declining Bee Populations Pose A Threat to Global Agriculture by Elizabeth Grossman: Yale Environment 360 Declining Bee Populations Pose A Threat to Global Agriculture The danger that the decline of bees and other pollinators represents to the world’s food supply was highlighted this week when the European Commission decided to ban a class of pesticides suspected of playing a role in so-called “colony collapse disorder.” by elizabeth grossman One of every three bites of food eaten worldwide depends on pollinators, especially bees, for a successful harvest. And in the past several months, a scramble in California’s almond groves has given the world a taste of what may lie in store for food production if the widespread — and still puzzling — decimation of bee colonies continues. For much of the past 10 years, beekeepers, primarily in the United States and Europe, have been reporting annual hive losses of 30 percent or higher, substantially more than is considered normal or sustainable. But this winter, many U.S. beekeepers experienced losses of 40 to 50 percent or more, just as commercial bee operations prepared to transport their hives for the country’s largest pollinator event: the fertilizing of California’s almond trees.

Spread across 800,000 acres, California’s almond orchards typically require 1.6 million domesticated bee colonies to pollinate the flowering trees and produce what has become the state’s largest overseas agricultural export. But given the widespread bee losses to so-called “colony collapse disorder” this winter, California’s almond growers were able to pollinate their crop only through an intense, nationwide push to cobble together the ‘In the long run, if we don't find some answers, we could lose a lot of bees,’ says one expert. necessary number of healthy bee colonies. “Other crops don’t need as many bees as the California almond orchards do, so shortages are not yet apparent, but if trends continue, there will be,” said Tim Tucker, vice-president of the American Beekeeping Federation and owner of Tuckerbees Honey in Kansas, which lost 50 percent of its hives this past winter. “Current [bee] losses are not sustainable. The trend is down, as is the quality of bees.

In the long run, if we don’t find some answers, and the vigor continues to decline, we could lose a lot of bees.” The gravity of the situation was underscored on Monday, when the European Commission (EC) said it intended to impose a two-year ban on a class of pesticides known as neonicotinoids, now the world’s most widely used type of insecticide. Neonicotinoids are one of the leading suspected causes of colony collapse disorder, and the European Commission announced its controversial decision three months after the European Food Safety Agency concluded that the pesticides represented a “high acute risk” to honeybees and other pollinators. The EC action will restrict the use of three major neonicitinoids on seeds and plants attractive to bees, as well as grains, beginning December 1. “I pledge to my utmost to ensure that our bees, which are so vital to our ecosystem and contribute over 22 billion Euros [$29 billion] annually to European agriculture, are protected,” said European Union Health Commissioner Tonio Borg.

The EC action comes as scientists and regulators have grown increasingly concerned about the impact of colony collapse disorder on the world’s food supply, given that the majority of the planet’s 100 most important food crops depend on insect pollination. A recent international study of 41 crop systems on six continents showed that healthy populations of wild bees are key to successful yields of crops ranging from pumpkins to grapefruit. Relying solely on domesticated honeybees could ultimately put those crops at risk, scientists say. Wild bees also have been declining in many places. No one investigating the issue is suggesting that neonicotinoids are the sole cause of current bee declines. Tucker, other beekeepers, and entomologists say that the cause of colony collapse disorder is likely a combination of factors that includes the widespread use of pesticides and fungicides, as well as the spread of viral pathogens and parasitic mites in beehives. While mites and diseases have long been known to cause significant declines in domesticated bee populations, no single pathogen or parasite, say entomologists, appears to sufficiently explain the current rate of hive collapse.

A recent study that found unprecedented levels of agricultural pesticides — some at toxic levels — in honeybee colonies is prompting entomologists to look more closely at the role of neonicotinoids in current bee declines. No one is suggesting that neonicotinoids are the sole cause of current bee declines. Some studies have indicated that neonicotinoids can lead to a sharp decline in queen bees in colonies and can also interfere with the ability of bees to navigate back to their hives. James Frazier, a professor of entomology at Pennsylvania State University, said more research needs to be conducted into whether neonicotinoids, particularly in combination with other pesticides, may suppress the immune system of bees at “sub-lethal” levels, enabling diseases to take hold. “This is uncharted territory,” said Purdue University associate professor of entomology Christian Krupke. “We’ve never done pest management like this before.” While not downplaying neonicotinoids as a potential culprit, Eric Mussen, an apiculturiust at the University of California, Davis, noted that the case against these pesticides is not clear-cut.

For example, honeybees are apparently doing fine in Australia, where neonicotinoids are widely used and varroa mites are not a problem. Neonicotinoid use is common in Canada, but colony collapse disorder is not significantly affecting hives there. University of California Honeybees are brought in to pollinate onion crops at a California farm. In the U.S., several national environmental advocacy organizations and commercial beekeepers filed suit in March against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) for its conditional registration of certain neonicotinoids, contending that the agency did not properly ensure environmental health protections, particularly with respect to pollinators. The EPA is now reviewing its registration of neonicotinoids and has accelerated the review schedule due “to uncertainties about these pesticides and their potential effects on bees.” The agency said in an email that it is working with beekeepers, growers, pesticide manufacturers, and others to improve pesticide use, labeling, and management practices to protect bees and to thoroughly evaluate the effects of pesticides on honeybees and other pollinators.

As part of these efforts, the EPA is working with pesticide and agricultural equipment manufacturers to reduce the release of neonicotinoid-contaminated dust during planting — a time when commercial bees are likely to encounter the insecticide. In the U.S., neonicotinoids are currently used on about 95 percent of corn and canola crops; the majority of cotton, sorghum, and sugar beets; and about half of all soybeans. They’re also used on the vast majority of fruit and vegetable crops, including apples, cherries, peaches, oranges, berries, leafy greens, tomatoes, and potatoes. Neonicotinoids are also applied to cereal grains, rice, nuts, and wine grapes. Charles Benbrook, research professor at Washington State University’s Center for Sustaining Agriculture and Natural Resources, has estimated that neonicotinoids are used on approximately 75 percent of the acres devoted to these crops in the U.S. They are also widely used on landscaping plants and urban trees and in numerous home garden pest-control products — all in places frequented by bees, domesticated and wild.

“There is no place to go hide,” says New York beekeeper Jim Doan, a director of the American Beekeeping Federation. “The outlook is not good.” When governments around the world registered and approved these insecticides for use in the 1990s, many questions about the environmental impacts of neonicotinoids were left unanswered. Neonicotinoids were welcomed as a safer alternative to previous generations of pesticides, ‘These compounds are a nightmare scenario for pollinators,’ says one beekeeper. particularly organochlorines (such as DDT) and organophosphates, which have known adverse environmental and human health effects. Neonicotinoids attack insects by harming their nervous systems and are considered of low toxicity to mammals. They are also typically used as systemic pesticides — meaning that they stay with the plant as it grows — and are applied as seed treatments, to roots, or into tree trunks, rather than applied with as a spray. This greatly reduces the potential for human exposure compared to other pesticides.

But because the insecticide stays with the plant as it grows, it raises questions about the potential for bees to be exposed through nectar, pollen, or leaf surface moisture, where a growing number of studies are finding evidence of neonicotinoids. Neonicotinoids are known to be toxic to bees, earthworms, and other terrestrial and aquatic invertebrates, as was noted in documents submitted to the EPA when they were registered. “The motivation for producing neonicotinoids was reduced human toxicity, but the environmental and ecosystem impacts were not considered in enough detail to predict what’s going on,” says Frazier of Penn State. “These compounds are a nightmare scenario for pollinators,” says Steve Ellis, a Minnesota-based beekeepeer whose bees primarily pollinate California almonds. “There is no way to prevent exposure to these chemicals. The only question is the exposure level, whether that is a problem or not. The pesticide industry claims not. The beekeeping industry says yes.” Both Doan and Ellis have experienced dramatic losses of bees in recent years, including complete hive failures. Both say their bees and hives have tested positively for neonicotinoids.

Yet in both cases the agricultural authorities and pesticide manufacturers who participated in testing the damaged hives said the insecticides’ presence was not conclusively linked to the bees’ deaths. Doan and Ellis are now part of the lawsuit filed against the EPA. The pesticides’ manufacturers, among them Bayer CropScience and Syngenta, and their trade association, CropLife America, say that neonicotinoids are safe if used as directed. These compounds are biologically active for the limited periods of time when the products’ target insects are active, say their manufacturers, who point to independent tests showing that risks of adverse impacts to bees and “non-target” insects are minimal. MORE FROM YALE e360 READ MORE “We can use them safely and not endanger the health of bees,” says David Fischer environmental toxicologist with Bayer CropScience. “There is not a correlation with the use of these products and the loss of colonies. What tends to be publicized is not an accurate reflection of the weight of the evidence.” CropLife America senior director of regulatory policy, Ray McAllister, says only a small quantity of pesticide is applied to the seed, precisely where its needed.

He said the major effects are during the plant’s early growth stages and that as the plant grows, the pesticide’s active ingredient is diluted and breaks down. This, he explained, “reduces by orders of magnitude the amount present in the plant when it flowers. If the dose is extremely low it is not going to be toxic.” Yet recent studies by entomologist Kimberly Stoner and colleagues at the Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Station have found two neonicotinoids, imidacloprid and thiamethoxam, in the nectar and pollen of squash to which the pesticides were applied as directed. Published research by environmental chemists at the U.S. Geological Survey documents the presence of neonicotinoids in rivers and streams. Data collected by Washington State’s Benbrook and colleagues also shows residues in numerous foods. “There’s going to be a shortage of bees in this entire growing season,” Frazier said of the U.S. situation. “The ability to replace bees that have been lost has been exhausted, so there’s a very large question mark about next year.

Whether we’ve reached a point of no return, we don’t know.” Honeybee webcam takes you inside a hive | MNN - Mother Nature Network MNN.com > Earth Matters > Animals Honeybee webcam takes you inside a hive This colony of bees is rebuilding in a hollow log in Germany after the hive collapsed earlier this year. 484 Unless you’re a backyard beekeeper , you likely try to avoid honeybees and their buzzing hives. But now you can safely get a glimpse inside a hive, thanks to two cameras that explore.org installed in a hollow log in Waal, Germany. One of the live feeds moves throughout the colony, and viewers can watch the bees as they build combs and produce honey. The second camera focuses on the entrance to the hive, and insects can be seen constantly coming and going. The bee colony is currently in the process of rebuilding after a hive collapse that was captured on video . It’s thought to be one of the only videos that shows the inside of a collapsing beehive. The live feeds provide a glimpse of what life is like for the insects, which are threatened by colony collapse disorder . The phenomenon, which doesn’t have a recognizable underlying cause, involves worker bees abruptly disappearing from hives. U.S.

beekeepers estimate that in the past year, 40 percent to 50 percent of the hives needed to pollinate the nation’s produce have been wiped out . More bee stories on MNN:

Question: Which insects are threatened by colony collapse disorder?
Answer: Bee